Bethlehem street signs baffle motorists

Q: At the intersection of Fairview and Center streets in Bethlehem are signs warning the westbound driver on Fairview Street to "Look left, then right, then left, before pulling out." There may be signs like this elsewhere, though I haven't noticed them. Why here? Center Street is one-way north. Why am I looking in two directions?

Joel Kehler

Bethlehem

A: The short answer, Joel, is that more motorists than you might imagine have been observed tooling along southbound on Center Street -- in the wrong direction, according to neighbors and city officials.

Though officials reported no accidents having been caused specifically by those clueless folks -- except for one bicyclist who rode into a car while going south on Center -- the intersection had been the site of more than its share of minor crashes, prompting neighbors to ask for improvements, said Traffic Coordinator Francis E. Barron, a retired city police officer.

The traffic volume and "conflict factor" -- cases in which cars are trying to cross each others' paths -- are not sufficient to warrant a traffic light, Barron said.

So, what to do?

"PennDOT had been experimenting with this type of sign," Barron said, noting that he'd seen similar examples at a PennDOT conference in Philadelphia a few years ago.

Looking both ways is always a good idea, of course, even if it's not an obvious necessity. For example, if you're waiting to make a right turn, a pedestrian might appear on the sidewalk to the right while you're looking left, waiting for traffic to clear.

And given the propensity for accidents at the intersection, a second look to the south couldn't hurt, Barron reasoned.

In 1998-2001, there were 18 accidents there, he said. The signs went up in October 2002 -- there's one in each direction on Fairview, with the eastbound sign saying "right-left-right" instead of "left-right-left" -- along with some road markings and other improvements.

"It seems to be working pretty well," Barron said, noting there were no accidents reported there in the first 13 months after the changes.

There have been several since then, through November. But it seems like an improvement by any measure.

"The sign makes people look the other way," agreed neighbor Carol Gower, who said she replaced her fence more than once from out-of- control vehicles.

"They have the tendency of coming up the wrong way here," agreed another neighbor, Jose Ruiz. "I don't know why they don't see the ["do not enter'] sign at Elizabeth Avenue" to the north, he said.

Barron couldn't answer that one, either.

Nor could he immediately think of other examples of similar signs placed by other municipalities. But rest assured, the signs at Center and Fairview conform to PennDOT standards, he said.

The signs drew some criticism from a local radio station when they first went up, Barron recalled. The on-air personalities made fun of them because, like you, Joel, they couldn't figure out why looking north on a one-way northbound street would be necessary.

And someone else had a different sense of humor, Ruiz said: The westbound sign was stolen in May and had to be replaced.

"I don't know what someone would want with a five-foot sign," Barron said.

No accusations here, mind you, but two words pop into the Warrior's mind: dorm room.

Road Warrior appears Fridays. E-mail questions about transportation in the Lehigh Valley and beyond to hartzell@mcall.com (please include your name, phone number and where you live). Or, write to Road Warrior, The Morning Call, 101 N. Sixth St., Allentown 18101-1480.